Musical tops



L. BRUETTING Aug. 30, 1960 MUSICAL TOPS Filed March 5, 1958 United States Patent C) MUSICAL TOPS Ludwig Bruetting, Zirndorf, near Nurnberg, Germany, assignor to Martin Fuchs, Zirndorf, near Numberg, Germany Filed Mar. 3, 1958, Ser. No. 718,804

Claims priority, application Germany Mar. 2, 1957 3 Claims. (Cl. 84-83) This invention relates to a musical top for producing sounds by air passages which can be opened and closed and by reeds or tongues belonging to the air passages.

The primary object of the invention is to provide such a top with Simple means which allow not only the production of a series of notes but also of some complete melodies.

Another object of the invention is to provide devices of the character and for the purpose set forth as above which are simple in construction and work without any linkage or swinging means.

A musical top of the above-mentioned kind is therefore provided with a supporting plate which is connected to the top shell and which carries the reeds of tongues and the air passages. This supporting plate is covered by a faster rotating cover plate, wherein cuts of dilerent length are provided on concentric circles, said circles having diierent radii.

This improvement brings the -advantage that only a cover plate has to be rotatably laid on the supporting plate containing the air passages, without any linkage or other mechanical means for opening and closing the air passages being necessary.

This involves another advantage created by the invention, namely the cover plate with the note-producing cuts being easy to produce whereby the production of musical tops with different melodies is greatly simplied, because only the cover plate containing the cuts has to be changed in tops of the same structure.

The cover plate-is preferably connected to an axially rotatable bearing tube which is driven by a crown gear by gears from a worm coaxial with the top spindle and not rotating.

Another object of the invention is to provide a spring surrounding the bearing tube which on the one hand presses the cover plate against the supporting plate, on the other hand secures the gearing between the crown gear and its corresponding gear.

Further features and advantages of the invention are disclosed by the following description of the drawing which shows the invention by way of representation. Fig. l is a longitudinal section of the musical top, Fig. 2 a section on line I-I of Fig. l, Fig. 3 a section along line II-II of Fig. 1.

The musical top is made in the normal way of a bottom shell 1 and an upper shell 2, a socket 3 and an operating knob 4 with a spiral thrust rod 5 mounted thereto. A cylindrical reduced end 6 mounted in the socket 3 forms the bearing for the top of the conducting tube 7, bearing at the same time the stationary tube 8 carrying the worm 9. With the worm 9 gears the gear 10. The gear 10 rotates the pinion gear 11 and with helical gear 12 thus driving the crown gear 13. A cap 14 being rotatably fitted onto the tube 8 rholds the crown gear 13 and is connected with the cover plate 16, made preferably of pasteboard, by means of the nose cut out of the mantle of the cap 14 and bent over as shown in ice Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawing, the cover plate 16 having for this purpose a groove 17.

To keep the crown gear 13 meshed with the screw gear 12 and at the same time to prevent the lifting of the cover plate 16 from the supporting plate 18, a spring 19 is provided.

The cover plate 16 has cuts 20 being arranged concentrically in cooperation with the air passages 21 provided in the supporting plate 18. Below the air passages 21 the tongues or reeds 22 are mounted to the supporting plate 18.

A bearing plate 24 carrying wind plates 23 is mounted e.g. pinned to or pinched into the upper shell 2. The wind plates 23 support the axles of the gears 10, 11 and the screw gear 12.

When the musical top is operated, the cover plate 16 also rotates, the transmission of the gearing (10, 11, 12, 13) being so provided that the cover plate 16 will rotate at a greater speed, than the supporting plate 18, whereby the cuts 20 will surpass the air passages 21. When a cut 20` coincides with an air passage 21, the air produced by the wind plates 23 will operate the tongues or reeds 22, thereby effecting a sound corresponding to the length of the relative cut.

By the arrangement of `several cuts of different length on a circle and by the arrangement of several such cuts, on different circles, the top will produce a melody of sounds when rotating.

I claim:

1. A musical top comprising a hollow shell, a stationary base, means mounting said shell upon said base for spinning movement with respect to said base and about a verticalA axis, a horizontal partition wall within said shell and having a plurality of slots, and a plurality of reeds so mounted on said wall that said reeds overlie said slots, respectively, said reeds being adapted to vibrate in said slots to produce a musical sound, a disk approximating the dimensions of said Wall and in juxtaposition therewith and having a plurality of radial openings and adapted to mute successive reeds, a shaft secured to said base and extending into said shell along the spinning axis, a gear train connecting said shaft with said disk and adapted to rotate it in response to rotation of said body about said shaft at a speed faster than said body.

2. A musical top comprising a hollow shell, a stationary base, means mounting said shell upon said base for spinning movement with respect to said base and about a vertical axis, a horizontal partition wall within said shell and having a plurality of slots, and a plurality of reeds so mounted on said wall that said reeds overlie said slots, respectively, said reeds being adapted to vibrate in said slots to produce a musical sound, a disk approximating the dimensions of said wall and in juxtaposition therewith, and having a plurality of radial openings and adapted to mute successive reeds, a shaft secured to said base and extending into said shell along the spinning axis, vane means responsive to spinning of said shell to produce a difference in air pressure on opposite sides of said partition wall, gearing means comprising a worm carried by said shaft within said shell, a gear train mounted on said vane means connecting said worm with a crown gear in operative relationship with said disk, said gearing means adapted to rotate the disk in response to rotation of said body about said shaft at a speed faster than said body.

3. A musical top comprising a hollow shell, a stationary base, means mounting said shell upon said base for spinning movement with respect to said base and about a vertical axis, a horizontal partition wall within said shell and having a plurality of slots, and a plurality of reeds so mountedon said wall that said reeds overlie said slots, respectively, said reeds being adapted to vibrate in said slots to produce a musical sound, a disk approximating by' said shaft within said shellja gear train mounted on said vane means connecting'said worm with a crownV gear in operative relationship with said disk, biasing' means positioned between said crown gear and said disk whereby v111e grown gear is urged 'into operative relationship with said gear train and the disk is urged towards said partition wall, said gearing means adapted to rotate the disk in response to rotation `of said body about said shaft aty a speed faster than said body.

References Cited in `the .file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 748,087 Mighels et al. Dec. 29, 1903 1,265,644 Frederiek Mary 7, 1918 2,809,548 Brutting OCR 15, 1957 2,841,920 Balleis July, i958 im' er 

